By: Jessica Barnett, UK KFTC Member

Inspired by the work of the group Kentucky Rising, students in KFTC’s UK student group held an event on campus Friday to raise awareness of  Mountain Top Removal Mining (MTR) and its effects on Kentuckians, and to illustrate the connections between UK students in Lexington and the people living in Eastern Kentucky. They called the event UK Rising. More than 40 people came out to participate, eat chili, and listen.

The event began with live funk music by One Way Out, and a vegan chili dinner prepared by the students. After the meal, Martin Mudd of Louisville spoke about his experience at the sit-in in Governor Beshear's Office with Kentucky Rising. He stressed that direct action isimportant because it shows your representatives you’re willing to do more than write lettersand allow them to be ignored.According to Mudd, the Kentucky Rising sit-in helped show the governor just how serious Kentuckians are about ending the destructive practice of MTR.

Ada Smith of Whitesburg shared her experience as a young person from Eastern Kentucky. Ada organizes and empowers Appalachian youth through her work in The STAY Project and The Appalachian Media Institute. She urged listeners to raise their voices against the injustices caused by destructive mining that are happening to communities such as hers. She spoke of health hazards posed to the people of her community and as a result, how many youth want to leave.

Stanley Sturgill of Lynch, told the group his story as a retired coal miner and mine inspector and how the rise of surface mining, especially MTR, is destroying Kentucky. Stanley was another person who participated in the sit-in at the governor’s office. He said that he loves his home and wants to die and be buried there but doesn’t want “to be shook out of the ground by Mountain Top Removal."